Wednesday, September 30th, 2015 | Posted by Ridge Graham | No Comments
North Carolina communities impacted by coal ash celebrated two positive strides forward recently, only to be disappointed by another fast move on the part of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality and Duke Energy that keeps too many citizens in limbo in terms of resolving polluted drinking water. [
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Tuesday, September 22nd, 2015 | Posted by Willie Dodson | No Comments
Citizens and clean water advocates used a series of hearings on the proposed Stream Protection Rule to demand improvements to the draft version and call out state agencies for repeatedly failing to enforce regulations already on the books. Coal industry representatives, on the other hand, relied on "war on coal" rhetoric and deception to rally against the rule. [
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Sunday, September 20th, 2015 | Posted by Ridge Graham | No Comments
After 15 years of legal wrangling with Duke Energy, federal lawyers have finally reached a settlement over charges the utility has been illegally emitting air pollution at several of its North Carolina power plants. Duke will have to close 13 of its coal-fired units by 2024. While that's good news for its neighbors, there's still the problem of polluted water from Duke's coal ash ponds. [
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Saturday, September 19th, 2015 | Posted by Jamie Goodman | 1 Comment
We would like to welcome three new faces to Appalachian Voices, our new Central Appalachian Campaign Coordinator Willie Dodson, and two new AmeriCorps Project Conserve members for the 2015-16 service term, Ridge Graham and Lee Payne. [
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Friday, September 18th, 2015 | Posted by Tom Cormons | No Comments
Since the Dan River coal ash catastrophe of February 2014, there’s been more foot-dragging than problem-solving by Duke Energy and DENR to solve the state’s coal ash crisis. But citizens like Amy Brown are keeping the pressure on, and Appalachian Voices is right there with them. [
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Thursday, September 17th, 2015 | Posted by Amy Kelly | 3 Comments
Amy Kelly is returning to her roots in the Volunteer State as Tennessee Energy Savings Outreach Coordinator for Appalachian Voices. She’ll be tapping into the natural ingenuity of local residents to help strengthen communities by increasing energy efficiency programs in the region. [
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Wednesday, September 16th, 2015 | Posted by Sarah Kellogg | No Comments
Amy Brown lives in Belmont, North Carolina, with her two children. Since spring, she's been living on bottled water. Her tap water, she's been told, is contaminated by Duke Energy's nearby coal ash pits. This is her story. [
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Tuesday, September 15th, 2015 | Posted by Amy Adams | No Comments
The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources is acting like--to use its own term--a "bureaucratic object of resistance." The agency's creative interpretation of its mission statement is just one reflection of the McCrory administration’s broader hostility to the notion that public servants have a responsibility to protect the natural resources and therefore the public health and welfare of the Tar Heel state.
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Friday, September 4th, 2015 | Posted by Sarah Kellogg | 1 Comment
This week, a study conducted by Duke University was published in "Environmental Science and Technology" which concluded that coal ash is more radioactive than its parent coal or soil, and that the radioactivity may exceed safe levels for human exposure. [
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Friday, September 4th, 2015 | Posted by Molly Moore | No Comments
From
The Appalachian Voice: America’s environmental regulations have hampered the coal industry to varying degrees for decades, and though those rules can protect communities from pollution, the law alone is often not able to secure clean water. Here are some of the trouble spots. [
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Wednesday, August 26th, 2015 | Posted by Sarah Kellogg | No Comments
On Monday evening, Duke Energy released the executive statement from its study assessing groundwater contamination at two of its largest coal ash sites in North Carolina. Unsurprisingly, Duke Energy’s findings suggest it is not responsible for the contamination found in the drinking water wells of over 200 households within 1,000 feet of the company’s coal ash dumps. [
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Tuesday, August 25th, 2015 | Posted by Tom Cormons | No Comments
President Obama’s announcement that day of first-ever regulations to limit carbon pollution from power plants in America — which has one of the largest carbon footprints in the world — marks an unprecedented milestone. Yet, as important as it is, it’s anything but certain how the story unfolds from here. [
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